


The Princess and the Pauper

by Zwiezraczek



Category: Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper (2004), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Keith (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), F/M, M/M, Pining Allura (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Prince Keith (Voltron), Princess Allura (Voltron), Roleswap, This was first a thing from myself to myself but turned out to be something to write, soooo here we are
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-13 00:53:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19588732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zwiezraczek/pseuds/Zwiezraczek
Summary: The Princess and the Pauper. A popular story among us, readers. But could you imagine this Princess being one of the most magnificent creatures of the Altean Kingdom, Princess Allura, and this Pauper being one of the most carefree person yet the most genuine of the Altean Kingdom, Lance McClain?





	The Princess and the Pauper

**Author's Note:**

> This is thanks to [joetzyeet](https://joetzyeet.tumblr.com/) so yes, thank you for telling me to write this! ^^  
> Sorry for the grammar/spelling and all the mistakes I made, if you point out some you are more than welcome to tell me these! ^^

> "[Free](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuR9R0glnJ0)"

On the same day, in the same Kingdom, two little souls are born; not only they were born at the same time but they were looking so alike that they would be taken for twins. The two little tan humans were looking at their parents with shiny eyes, their giggles were warming the adult's hearts in both worlds. Because these two twins, these soul siblings were born in two different words...

The girl was a Princess, the Princess of Altea, Allura of Altea, her royal Highness. She already had some white curls on her head while giggling and waving her little hands at her parents, whose smile were bigger than the whole universe. She fluttered her eyelashes softly, then she sneezed, she laughed. Her cheeks were rosy, a healthy baby being born during a beautiful evening...

The boy was a pauper, coming from a family living in the Altean Kingdom, Lance, Lance McClain, the boy with ocean eyes. His parents were struggling to have a child, due to their poverty, his mother already outlived some miscarriages and Lance was their little gift on this warm night. He began to cry as soon as he breathed in, his mother was worried, she wouldn't survive to another baby loss, not this time. But Lance survived, Lance was a strong boy with a smile on his pretty tanned face. They made a promise to their little angel, the promise to keep him alive no matter what...

The Princess and the pauper lived in two words, intertwined, nonetheless.

The Princess grew up as a royal heir to the throne, the Princess to marry and to be the pride of their people, to be the most compassionate sovereign in this Kingdom. By these means, Allura grew up in a selfless way, guided by her mother, to become a right Queen. She tries to understand the people, even if born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she is really concerned about the affairs in the Kingdom, sneaking into financial reunions as a kid, bringing her papers and making the serious faces while her father was speaking about some economical matters. She wanted to be a good Queen, she wanted to be right, she was told that a Queen was the one that the people trusted forever, that she was the pillar of every kingdom giving it hope, happiness and honour. She had to be these three altogether. As a young lady, she insisted to have a tutor. She read that every good Princess had a tutor to guide her through life, through everything in order to make her a perfect Queen-to-be. Eleanor, her mother, insisted that her little girl should have a tutor coming from the little town near their palace, just to be connected with the reality and to understand their people, and Alfor, her father, could only agree. They searched in the whole city for the best tutor they could have, every one of them had a flaw, the flaw of money and the shimmering objects that would lead Allura to become a superficial Princess, weak of mind; and one day, they saw a simple boy, a teenager having only books in his hand, with his long black hair put into a ponytail, a simple jacket on his shoulders and a confused expression: he was nervous. He appeared to be one of the best students in the city, coming from a poor family and working hard to become, hopefully, a teacher; he wanted to prove himself by teaching manners and educate the little Princess to become a Queen. Eleanor saw this little sparkle in his eyes, the sparkle of knowledge and his good intentions towards their daughter. She asked his name. Takashi Shirogane. Tutor Takashi Shirogane.

* * *

The pauper lived as free as the wind. Lance never had everything he wanted, but had everything he needed to become a great person. He had the best childhood he could've wished for, and he knew it. Every day, his mother would tell him the story of a beautiful princess finding his knight, and Lance would ask if she thought that he could be either the knight or the princess, she smiled at him and kissed his forehead. What he loved the most, apart from listening to her mother's stories, was to sew with her and to sing while sewing with her; because, what Lance couldn't understand at the time, she was working in order to pay their debt but Lance saw it as a game, as something to keep him close to his mother. His father was intrigued, yet happy that his son would help his mother, he wanted a son more than everything during his wife's first pregnancy, but he came to the point of just wanting a child, just to love them, just to care about them, just to let them be. And this was what he did, he let Lance be other than the casual boys from town, he let him be the beautiful mariposa they told him to be. His son wasn't strong, but was kind hearted, his son didn't play the war, but was able to help his mother around, his son wasn't a casual boy, but he was his boy. And he would ruin himself to feed this boy, to let him grow, to let him live. So they made compromises, so they borrowed money, they became ill, they left Lance. They left Lance with a legacy, a debt, but more importantly everything that they taught him, and Blue, a stray cat that Lance rescued and took care of with his mother.

* * *

During the night, Queen Eleanor died. The only thing that remained of her, was the name of Allura's cat, Elly, a name she gave the feline in order to have her mother with her forever. Takashi was the one to tell her the news; he was devastated. And whatever made the Princess sad, made him sadder; but here, the Queen was dead, the pillar was gone, Allura was wrecked, Shiro couldn't stand to see this beautiful girl crying in his arms, wetting his white blouse with sad tears and saliva, because she couldn't stop, because she wouldn't stop until she cried the pain away, until she soothed everything, every muscle, every part of her body, she wanted to join her mother. Who cares about being a pillar if your only pillar, the only person you look up to, is no longer with you?

“Allura, I know how you must feel”, he slowly whispered, “I understand your pain, but I am sure that your mother, our Queen, would not like to see you like this, she would want you to be her legacy. To become the pillar, Allura.”

“I can not be the pillar if my only pillar is gone”, she articulated slowly between sobs, looking at Shiro's face, he felt the great pain and only wanted to help her, to never see her like this again. “I can not be...”

“Allura, you can be the pillar. You are born with this ability and you will be the greatest Queen and your mother will be proud of you.”

He believed what he said, he believed that Allura would be the best Queen, out coming Queen Eleanor's doings, because her soul was pure, her mind was savage yet close to every human problem, her eyes glimmered while she was listening to stories, to her Kingdom's folklore, her smile would appear on her face when she would read a science book, she would know how to run a kingdom. She was the King and the Queen. But she would only be the Queen. Not his Queen. He would not be the one by her side, because she was the Princess, and him, poor Takashi, was her tutor, a nobody. Just a tutor.

“Thank you Shiro, thank you so much”, she murmured while trying to calm down a bit.

* * *

The only thing Lance knew after his parent's death had been that he had to pay his debt. He learned this the hard way, with Lotor storming into his little basement-house while he was softly petting Blue, living all alone, all by himself. Lotor owned the Dress Emporium his mother used to work for, this was why she could borrow money from him, from Lotor, the one sewing for the court. What use he could have from Lance, an orphan with debts to pay? How could he turn into the bad guy of this story? By employing the boy, offering him a roof and saying him that he has to pay the debt with his hard work, this would be some villain plan. Lotor was a villain.

The atelier is full, women are sewing, strings are everywhere and fabrics are flying. The colours are shimmering, splendid, Lance's eyes are shining. He quickly notices a young blonde girl, her pigtails are Rapunzel-like, and her blue sparkling eyes are searching for some needles, this is where Lotor brings him. He yells, telling “Romelle” that she has to introduce Lance to their orders, that he has to help her with these little hands of his – worthless hands – and that she has to finish this dress for tonight, otherwise she would stay there during the whole night, no sleeping, only working. She patiently nods, looking down, while the sparkle in her eyes disappear as Lotor's voice rises.

Lance sits next to her, looking at the pink ribbons that she has under her elbow, satin, he thinks before asking her what he should do to help her, that he can do anything, that he's happy to sew again. Romelle's fifteen years-old eyes are glistening, these people were all nice, but this kid was so pure and had no idea about what was to come: she decided to protect her at all cost.

On their eighteen birthday, their lives are turned upside down. On their eighteen birthday, both of them live their biggest revelation, the greatest turning point: they desire to be free.

The Altean Kingdom faces a crisis. The gold the royal family is keeping to make their people survive has been disappearing at an alarming rate, since Honerva, the King's advisor, left for a trip. This is not only a strange coincidence, but it was actually Honerva who pulled the strings of the crisis happening, because of her strongest will to become an Empress. She collected the gold and she managed to build an army of servants, ready to follow her into her insane plan; she was rich by now. She had everything she could to become a good choice for King Alfor to marry her – and then to kill him, a poor, unfortunate accident – and to rule the Kingdom on her own, with or without the Princess' consent. But her sudden disappearance left the King alone with his crisis problems, bringing him sleepless nights in front of her death spouse portrait, asking her what she would have done, how could they get out of the uncomfortable situation they are in; the candle light made her alliance shimmer in the night, in Alfor's bedroom: marriage. Yes, marriage as the only option to save the Kingdom. And Allura was they key to it, she will marry the Prince of the Blades Kingdom.

In the morning, when Allura meets her father during the breakfast and hears the news, she shyly smiles nodding, but her heart is torn in pieces, not as much as her feelings for Shiro. He was always by her side, giving her hope when she was hopeless, comforting her during some sleepless nights after her mother's departure, she even kissed him on the cheek once, just to thank him for everything he had done for her, since forever. She never noticed the blush that appeared on Shiro's face, never heard the racing heartbeat after her lips left a soft print on his cheek, she never heard his mind wishing for being with her. She always thought that her love was only an infatuation, a stupid teenager love, an insignificant feeling, fleeting as the wind: she accepted her father's offer without a blink, for her people, for her mother. Not for Shiro. And that was the saddest part of her choice, of her forced choice.

A few days before their first meeting, while Allura is sitting in her room, carelessly flipping the pages of her science book with Elly by her side, Shiro enters the room. A smile covers his face as he approaches her, looking above her shoulder to get what she was reading. Allura feels his presence, and only rises her head and locks her eyes into his, the worst decision ever.

“Is this a way to spy on a lady, Shiro”, she asks him playfully as she pushes herself a bit to let him see what she was reading.

“I... I just wanted to make sure that you, the Princess, are not reading some witchcraft; this would be very unfortunate to have a witch-Princess in our Kingdom”, he manages to say with a straight face.

“Whereas, I think that a witch-Princess would be really useful: she could, for example, erase the crisis from the Kingdom by not marrying a Prince from another Kingdom”, she says, her voice going more and more quiet as she expresses her opinion in front of him. She is afraid, she doesn't want to marry this Prince, she doesn't.

“They say that Prince Keith is a nice person”, Shiro immediately answers as she looks up at him, “he has a great passion for art and knows how to play the piano and various other instruments. But above all, he has a passion for knives, which, in my humble opinion, is weird.”

Allura laughs, closing her blue eyes for a second, Elly plays at her feet, Shiro brushes her shoulder with his hand, a hesitation, he puts his hand on her shoulder with a comforting smile.

“Everything is going to be alright, Allura. I promise.”

“I hope so Shiro, I hope so...”

They hear somebody coughing at the door, a servant. Shiro immediately steps back, in a more formal way before bowing in front of Allura, still having a smirk on his face before whispering “Princess”, to witch Allura answers by rolling her eyes.

“Princess, I want you to excuse me but we have twenty, I would say twenty two minutes before your meeting with our Kingdom's Historian, before going to try on your wedding dress, then we have to go to the garden for a tea time with”, he continues for a long moment, letting Allura only wish to stop all of this in a snap of fingers. Shiro can only wink at her, before leaving her to her duties, “and only then we will have time for some studies, Princess...”

“All my life I've always wanted to have one day just for me”, she whispers to herself while standing up and going towards the servant. She puts her hand into the servant's one, before following him.

All she wishes for, is a moment for herself now. She always had a busy schedule, learning, going to meet the different persons in charge of the well-being of the Kingdom, but these last days she only had time for her wedding, her unwanted wedding. She missed Shiro, more than she thought she would, she missed his voice while he was reading her scientific treaties, philosophical essays or only chatting with her about some music; her only moments of joy with him were the ones that this servant stole – it was not his fault, he is serving his King only – these small and delicate moments between the two of them, lasting for a few minutes, always bringing up marriage to make it look less dramatic, more enjoyable. She grew accustomed to the whole idea of marriage, she really did, because Shiro helped her with this, while they had some moments to study what he gladly changed into moments of simple discussion, exchange between two close souls. Her heart was bouncing, but her mind was sticking her into duty...

* * *

“All my life I've always wanted to have on day for myself”, Lance sang while twirling around Romelle, with a pile of fabric, who was sewing some embroidery piece on her purple fabric.

“Laance, please quietly or Lotor will hear you and you know how much he hates when somebody haves fun in here”, she whispers to him.

“Romelle, my sweet summer child”, Lance says with a fabric around his shoulder in a cap-like way, “you should know that everybody enjoys some music even the evil and scary”, he continues raising his hands in a vampire-like way before being cut by a Romelle's gasp which made him drop the fabric on the floor as he guessed it was Lotor standing behind him. “Okay, I'm gonna die Romelle, tell Blue that I love her”, he finally whispered before turning back to face Lotor.

“Well, well, well, have you forgotten that this place is not an opera Lance”, Lotor asks while standing above them, next to the stairs.

“More like a prison for the poor ones, Sir.”

“Be rebellious Lance, be; because you still have thirty-seven years to work for me”, he acknowledges the young boy.

“But I've already paid my debt, more than half of it actually”, he protests while grabbing from the ground the fabric.

“And the interest rate, McClain? Your parent could have thought about it.”

“They had to feed me!”

“No they had not to”, Lotor barked before slamming the door.

Lance sat on the chair next to her friend. Another thirty-seven years. He would be dead by that moment: he would be a bachelor, he would be childless, he would be all by himself, with Blue. Romelle had a future, she was working here – still, not with the best conditions he had to admit – but she had her freedom, no debt to pay, she was a stray girl who knew how to sew, she could've made her way through everything with a string and a needle, she had a future. Lance had none.

“You know what Romelle”, he firmly says, “tomorrow morning I'm gonna go sing in the streets to gather some money. I'm gonna get out of here, with you and Blue of course, and I'll be the singer, you my stylist and we'll be the most famous duo in the whole Kingdom!”

“Oh Lance”, she sighed, “I'd love that to be true... I'm going to cover you tomorrow morning then, until Lotor comes back, but please be careful.”

“You know, a McClain always gets a way.”

“I hope so...”

The horses are stopped, and a black haired head is stuck out from the little window of the carriage, the Prince Keith himself, disguised as a servant of his Kindom's Ambassador, of Sir Kolivan, is looking at this magnificent castle. He had to admit that it was not a conventional way to get to know his future spouse, but he wanted to know her without... Everything. Without the protocols, without the business, without everything around them, without the royalty. And disguising is fun. Not that fun for Kolivan, who sighs thinking that the Prince is as stubborn as his mother, Queen Krolia in her childhood, and even now.

The Ambassador and his “servant” are taken to the throne room, where King Alfor waits for them, with a really nervous Honerva, who learnt about the wedding in the morning, when she came back from her trip; everything the King made was there to destroy her plan. Her wishes were gone, because of this alliance, and the only way to stop all of this, was to make the Princess disappear, to kill her. This would work perfectly. She already knew her plan, more or less, but the worry was there in any way, she was still searching for a good excuse to come up with the Princess' sudden “flee”.

“Dea”, Keith begins before being interrupted by the Ambassador himself, looking at him with insistence to keep him quiet.

“Your Highness, I am Sir Kolivan, the Ambassador from the Blades Kingdom and this, is my servant Kaleb, please excuse him, he is still young”, the Prince gives him a death glare to which Kolivan doesn't bother to answer. “He will hand to you the present that Prince Keith has chosen for Princess Allura, in hopes of a prosperous marriage.”

“Absolutely, your Highness”, Keith adds while Kolivan almost dies while hearing Keith, or Kaleb talking to the King.

“Majesty, should I tell this boy to be more careful while addressing the King”, Honerva asks Alfor.

“No need, Honerva. Bring your present, Kaleb”, and Kaleb, after a few minutes of thinking who the hell was Kaleb, hands the present to the King.

Meanwhile, Allura sits in her room, reading some stories about magical creatures, her favourite one, the one in which Shiro is involved so much, in which she can almost see the play and all the characters moving around her, singing and dancing for her, with her, when Shiro enters the room after knocking – which surprises Allura highly.

“Her Majesty could...”

“Shiro, we are friends aren't we”, she asks him surprised, “I am Allura to you.”

“Her Majesty's Father sends me to tell you that the Ambassador from the Blades Kingdom just arrived.”

“Oh, Shiro”, she slowly whispers.

“Can her Majesty follow me”, this question breaks Allura's heart.

She knows Shrio for too long to ignore the fact that this is affecting him; the last time he was so formal towards her was when he had to announce her that her mother died, she could see the pain on his face, she could feel it, but as soon as her pain burst, he regained composure to soothe hers. If she could only marry him, if she could only...

“Shiro... Can we... Stay here”, she asked him eyes already wet, “send somebody to tell my father that I am not feeling well, that I am terribly sorry to not be able to greet the Ambassador but”, she swallowed her tears, “I just can't Shiro, it pains so much”, she said before beginning to cry in the palms of her hands, softly, without a sound.

“I will tell him Allura, do not worry”, he answered, with a warmer voice, trying to comfort her, just to let her know that he was here, with her, yet resisting the urge to hug her.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it, leave a comment, a kudo and if you want you can find me on [Tumblr](https://zwiezraczek.tumblr.com/)


End file.
